KR20050054773A - Apparatus for controlling electronic instruments using human features and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic device control apparatus and method thereof according to the present invention include: a sensor unit for sensing a biological signal and amplifying the biological signal as an analog signal; An A / D converter converting the amplified analog signal into a digital signal; And a digital signal processing unit for outputting a predetermined control signal for controlling the operation of the electronic device based on the digital signal, and wearing a headband type EMG detector which is easily detachable. This allows input to the information device. Such an input device has an advantage of enabling the use of the information device by the handicapped, which has been difficult to use the information device or the mobile device due to the disability of the body below the neck such as a quadriplegic patient. In addition, the general public can provide assistance in utilizing information equipment in a mobile computer environment.

Description

Apparatus for controlling electronic instruments using human features and method

The present invention relates to a portable information device input device for a handicapped person with paralysis, and more specifically, to input a command to the information device by using only an EMG signal generated during a biting operation in place of a conventional information input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. An apparatus and a method for enabling the same are provided.

EMG is an electrical signal generated along the muscle fibers from the muscle surface as the body moves. Using EMG, it is possible to control prosthetic devices or human-computer interfaces (HCIs) according to the free will of human beings because they directly use signals from living bodies instead of artificial ones. Therefore, recently, HCI technology for controlling mobile devices such as wheelchairs or using information devices has been developed.

Conventional EMG-based HCI technology mostly uses EMG signals generated by wrist or arm movements. However, this technique is not applicable to people with sub-neck disorders, such as those with quadriplegia. In addition, it is difficult to use the movement of the hand or the arm as an information input means in the situation of using the hand and the arm continuously.

In the case of quadriplegic disorders, interface research using gestures, brain waves, safety and EMG using bio-signals has been attempted.

In the case of the EEG which is a representative biosignal, it is difficult to effectively control the position of the mouse pointer because a long adaptation time is required to control a device such as a computer mouse and the length of data required for one command is long. In addition, when the right holder uses a safety signal by eye movement in Kim Hee-chan and one other person [Patent Name: Remote Control Device of Electronic Device Using Eye Movement, Application No. 10-1999-0010547, Application Date 1999.03.26] Intentional and very careful eye blinks and eye movements are required for the decision, which greatly inconveniences the user.

On the other hand, the right holder is the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute [Patent name: Electronic device control method using bio-signals and its method, Registration No .: 10-0396924, registration date August 22, 2003] for the physically handicapped to move left and right to select The bite and the left and right movement using the proposed method to perform the control of the electronic device control device through the biological signal (electroencephalogram) extracted from the simple movement of the face part (the head movement and the bite), the user's physiological state It is a way to make intentional behavior easier even if it changes, but there are restrictions on use for people with disabilities who cannot move their heads.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in an effort to provide an apparatus and method for controlling an electronic device using an EMG signal generated from a wiping operation.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, an electronic device control apparatus using a biosignal according to the present invention includes a sensor unit for sensing a biosignal and amplifying the biosignal as an analog signal; An A / D converter converting the amplified analog signal into a digital signal; And a digital signal processor for outputting a predetermined control signal for controlling the operation of the electronic device based on the digital signal.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of controlling an electronic device using a biosignal, the method including: detecting a predetermined number of EMG signals generated when a wiping operation is performed and amplifying the EMG signals; Converting the amplified analog signal into a digital signal; And generating a predetermined control signal for controlling the operation of the electronic device based on the EMG signal converted into the digital signal.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, for convenience of description, the electronic device control apparatus and method using the biosignal according to the present invention will be described together.

First, the reason why the electronic device control apparatus and method using the bio-signal according to the present invention is required briefly. As mentioned in the above problems of the prior art, to overcome the limitations of the safety and EEG usage that have been used in the conventional biosignal-based interface of quadriplegic patients, the electronic device using an electromyography that can be generated artificially and stably by the user Control In particular, it is necessary to secure the convenience and stability in controlling the mouse pointer of a computer, selecting icons in a program, and executing a program.

In particular, the biting motion is performed by the contraction of the moss root in the jaw and the temple root in the temple, and the presence and intensity of the biting motion can be known by acquiring and analyzing the EMG signal generated at this time.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device control apparatus using a biosignal according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of the electronic device control method according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a sensor unit 101 for measuring EMG, a signal amplifier 102 for amplifying a weak signal measured by the sensor unit 101, and an analog for converting an amplified EMG signal into a digital signal And a digital signal processing unit 104 for processing a digital signal and generating a control signal for transmitting a command to the information device. The type and generation method of the control signal will be described later.

2 is a view showing a detailed configuration of the sensor unit 101 of FIG. 1, the sensor unit 101 is mainly obtained only the EMG by the safety operation by blinking, minimizing the effects of brain waves transmitted from the brain and biting In order to achieve this, a differential amplification technique using a voltage difference between two pairs of electrodes is used. In addition, the sensor is located in the temporal muscle area in consideration of the user's convenience among the two main muscles activated by the biting motion, namely, the bite root and the temporal muscle. On the other hand, the ground electrode required to detect the EMG signal is located in the center of the forehead far from the root of the temple.

The components of the sensor unit 101 are separated. First, the EMG sensors 201a to 201b are in close contact with the skin surface and receive an EMG signal. The differential amplifier 202 obtains and amplifies the difference between the signals output by the two EMG sensors 201a to 201b and transmits the amplified signals to the A / D converter 103 through the signal wire 205 (step 401). The sensor case 203 supports the EMG sensors 201a to 201b and the differential amplifier 202. The sensor support part 207 supports the sensor case 203 including the EMG sensors 201a to 201b and the differential amplifier 202, and a velcro tape has a sensor case 203 to the sensor support part 207. Attach). In addition, the elastic band 208 is such that the EMG sensors 201a to 201b supported by the sensor support 207 is in close contact with the skin and do not fall from the body. Finally, the ground electrode 206 is for measuring a reference voltage for obtaining the electric potential of the EMG sensors 201a to 201b and is in contact with the forehead as described above.

3 is a view when the sensor unit 101 is implemented as a headband type 301 worn on the forehead. The EMG sensors 201a to 201b are positioned to be parallel to the direction of the headband, and the ground terminal 206 is located at the center of the forehead. The EMG signal due to the biting motion is easily detected at a point about 1 cm away from the end of the eyebrow where the temporal muscle is located, so that the position of the sensor case 203 is adjusted to fit.

The EMG signal acquired by the headband sensor unit 301 is amplified by the signal amplifier 102 and converted into a digital signal by the analog / digital converter 103 (step 402) and input to the digital signal processor 104. do.

In the flow of FIG. 4, the digital signal processing step for classifying the operation performed from the digital signal input by the digital signal processing unit 104 will be described. First, the EMG signals of the left and right two-temporal root muscle channels are preferably blocked to a length of about 100 ms (step 403). The EMG signal is extracted from the blocked EMG signal, and any of conventional methods such as Integrated Absolute Value (IAV) and Difference of Absolute Mean Value (DAMV) may be used (step 404).

Then, the feature value of the EMG signal acquired in step 404 is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and the threshold value is greater than or equal to active and the threshold value is less than or equal to off. Four channels can be distinguished from two channels: (1) both channels are off, (2) the first channel is on and the rest is off, and (3) the second channel is on. The rest is off, and (4) both channels are on.

This basically allows four command implementations from two EMG channels. When four commands are implemented, it is possible to control mobile devices that require commands such as stop, turn left, turn right, and move forward, but only four commands are insufficient for input of information devices that require more input freedom. That is, in order to control the position of the mouse pointer of the representative information device and to execute the selection and execution commands, at least seven kinds of directions such as stop, up, down, left and right control, click (selection) and double click (execute) are performed. The command implementation must be possible.

To this end, as shown in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, seven commands may be distinguished from two channels of EMG signals by a left and right biting operation.

(1) The feature values are obtained from the EMG signals of the two channels, and the feature values are compared with a predetermined threshold value to distinguish "on" and "off" of each channel. For example, when biting only the left tooth side, channel 1 is on and channel 2 is off, and when both are biting, both channels are on.

(2) If both channels are off, it is regarded as 'stop' operation.

(3) If only channel 1 is on, it is recognized as 'left' operation and the mouse pointer is moved to the left by the set number.

(4) In the case of (3), if channel 1 is off in the previous step and the previous step is on, it is recognized as 'low' motion and the opposite direction as the mouse pointer is moved by (3) And move it downward by the set amount.

(5) If only channel 2 is on, it is recognized as 'right' operation and the mouse pointer is moved to the right by the designated value.

(6) In the case of (5), if channel 2 is off in the previous step and the previous step is on, it is recognized as 'up' and the mouse pointer is moved by (4). Direction and move upwards the amount you set.

(7) When both channels are on, it is recognized as click (selection) operation.

(8) In case (7), if channel 2 is off in the previous step and on the previous step, it is recognized as double-click (execution). As such, each control signal for the operation of the mouse may be generated by combining EMG signals of the two channels to enable seven commands (step 406). In FIG. 5, i, i-1, and i-2 represent data blocks in the present, the past, and the past, respectively.

The electronic device control method using the biosignal according to the present invention may also be implemented as computer readable codes on a computer readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data that can be read by a computer system is stored. Examples of computer-readable recording media include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, hard disk, floppy disk, flash memory, optical data storage device, and also carrier wave (e.g. transmission over the Internet). It is also included to be implemented in the form of. The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over computer systems connected over a computer network so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion. Also, the font ROM data structure according to the present invention can be read by a computer on a recording medium such as a computer readable ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tape, hard disk, floppy disk, flash memory, optical data storage device, and the like. It can be implemented as code.

The above detailed description and contents disclosed in the drawings are not intended to limit the present invention, and it is apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. will be.

As described above, the electronic device control apparatus and method using the bio-signal according to the present invention can be input to the information device by performing a left and right biting operation by wearing a headband type EMG detector which is easily detachable. Such an input device has an advantage of enabling the use of the information device by the handicapped, which has been difficult to use the information device or the mobile device due to the disability of the body below the neck such as a quadriplegic patient. In addition, the general public can provide assistance in utilizing information equipment in a mobile computer environment.

1 is a block diagram of an electronic device control apparatus using a biosignal according to the present invention.

2 is a view illustrating an embodiment in which a sensor unit of an electronic device control apparatus using a biosignal according to the present invention is implemented as a headband type.

3 is a view showing an embodiment of the wearing state of the headband sensor unit according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of the electronic device control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a combination for performing seven instructions such as stopping, up, down, left, right, select, and execution by a biting operation.

Claims (12)

A sensor unit for detecting a biological signal and amplifying the biological signal as an analog signal; An A / D converter converting the amplified analog signal into a digital signal; And a digital signal processor for outputting a predetermined control signal for controlling the operation of the electronic device based on the digital signal. The method of claim 1, wherein the bio-signal Electronic device control apparatus using a bio-signal, characterized in that the EMG signal generated when performing a smooth operation. The method of claim 2, wherein the bio-signal An electronic device control apparatus using a biosignal comprising a first EMG signal generated when biting a left tooth and a second EMG signal generated when biting a right tooth. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit A first amplifier configured to amplify an output signal difference between the first to second EMG sensor and the first to second EMG sensor, and the third to fourth sensor to detect the second EMG signal; And a second amplifier for amplifying an output signal difference between the EMG sensor and the third to fourth EMG sensors, and a reference electrode of the first to second amplifiers. The method of claim 4, wherein the sensor unit The first to second EMG sensors are attached to the head bend, the third to fourth EMG line is attached to the head bend having a fixing means for fixing the right to the right muscle, the reference electrode to the forehead Electronic device control apparatus using a biological signal, characterized in that. The method of claim 1, wherein the digital signal processing unit And controlling the EMG signal detected in the left temporal muscle and the EMG signal detected in the right temporal muscle to generate the control signal. (a) detecting a predetermined number of EMG signals generated when performing a wiping operation and amplifying the EMG signals; (b) converting the amplified analog signal into a digital signal; and (c) generating a predetermined control signal for controlling the operation of the electronic device based on the EMG signal converted into the digital signal. The method of claim 7, wherein step (a) And detecting and amplifying the first EMG signal generated when biting the left tooth and the second EMG signal generated when biting the right tooth. The method of claim 8, wherein the first EMG signal is obtained from two sensors for detecting the movement of the left temporal muscle, the second EMG signal is obtained from two sensors for detecting the movement of the right coronary muscle Electronic device control method using a biological signal. The method of claim 7, wherein step (b) Each of the first to second EMG signals is blocked for a predetermined time, and after extracting a feature, the extracted feature value is compared with a predetermined threshold value, and is an on signal when the threshold value is greater than or equal to a threshold value. Generating a control signal by classifying the result into a signal and then combining the result of the classification into a signal. The method of claim 10, wherein the control signal is An electronic device control method using a bio-signal, which indicates one of up, down, left, right, selection, execution and stop. (a) detecting a predetermined number of EMG signals generated when performing a wiping operation and amplifying the EMG signals; (b) converting the amplified analog signal into a digital signal; And (c) generating a predetermined control signal for controlling the operation of the electronic device based on the EMG signal converted into the digital signal; a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program which can be executed by a computer.